Londragon

Happy Birthday.

After my first listen through. The album starts off rocking, Muse style, trends towards Queen in the middle, and then finishes with something like Pink Floyd psychedelia. Not bad, but not the ending I was expecting. Will have to listen more. I always need multiple listens before I settle on my opinion.

4th of June 3DS eShop releases; 3DS eShop Lord of Magna: Maiden Heaven (Marvelous, €29.99 / £24.99) 3DS eShop Temporary Discount Retro City Rampage: DX (Vblank Entertainment, €5.99 / £5.48 until 11th June, regular price €8.99 / £7.99) Wakedas (CIRCLE Entertainment, €1.99 / £1.69 until 25th June, regular price €2.99 / £2.49) Witch & Hero (CIRCLE Entertainment, €1.99 / £1.59 until 25th June, regular price €3.99 / £3.19) World Conqueror 3D (CIRCLE Entertainment, €3.99 / £3.19 until 25th June, regular price €4.99 / £3.99) Darts Up 3D (EnjoyUp Games, €0.99 / £0.89 until 2nd July, regular price €2.99 / £2.69) Dress to Play: Magic Bubbles! (EnjoyUp Games, €1.99 / £1.79 until 2nd July, regular price €3.99 / £3.59) Football Up Online (EnjoyUp Games, €1.99 / £1.79 until 2nd July, regular price €3.99 / £3.59) Toys Vs. Monsters (EnjoyUp Games, €1.99 / £1.99 until 2nd July, regular price €3.99 / £3.99) Murder on the Titanic (Joindots, €5.99 / £4.49 until 18th June, regular price €7.99 / £5.99) Secret Agent Files: Miami (Joindots, €5.99 / £4.49 until 18th June, regular price €7.99 / £6.99) Talking Phrasebook – 7 Languages (Sanuk Games, €2.99 / £2.69 until 11th June, regular price €4.99 / £4.49) Turtle Tale (Saturnine Games, €1.99 / £1.65 until 18th June, regular price €2.99 / £2.49) Banana Bliss: Jungle Puzzles (Teyon, €1.99 / £1.79 until 2nd July, regular price €3.99 / £3.59) Crazy Chicken Pirates 3D (Teyon, €0.99 / £0.89 until 2nd July, regular price €1.99 / £1.79) Cube Tactics (Teyon, €2.49 / £2.24 until 2nd July, regular price €4.99 / £4.49) Governor of Poker (Teyon, €2.49 / £2.19 until 2nd July, regular price €4.99 / £4.49 Groove Heaven (Teyon, €1.99 / £1.79 until 2nd July, regular price €3.99 / £3.59) Heavy Fire: Black Arms 3D (Teyon, €2.49 / £2.24 until 2nd July, regular price €4.99 / £4.49) Heavy Fire: Special Operations 3D (Teyon, €2.49 / £2.19 until 2nd July, regular price €4.99 / £4.49) Robot Rescue 3D (Teyon, €1.49 / £1.34 until 2nd July, regular price €2.99 / £2.69) Skater Cat (Teyon, €2.49 / £2.19 until 2nd July, regular price €4.99 / £4.49) Real Heroes: Firefighter 3D Download Version (Zordix AB, €4.99 / £4.49 until 11th June, regular price €9.99 / £8.99) Snow Moto Racing 3D (Zordix AB, €3.99 / £3.59 until 11th June, regular price €7.99 / £7.19) 3DS eShop Permanent Discount Bird Mania 3D (Teyon, €0.99 / £0.89, was €1.99 / £1.79) Retro City Rampage is well worth the asking price if you like a more story based old school GTA style game, mad as a box of nuts.

KOBO Touch eReader Not the best reader in the world in terms of speed, but allows open source epub, mobi, etc. files to be added by yourself so can get books from anywhere to the easily removable micro SD Card. And the piece de resistance is the ability to read CBR and CBZ files, comic book files, negatives...slow and no colour.

I read on an ereader and now am 85% of the way through Book 2 and something has happened, so once again I can't put it down

They check through your ISP's address, decide if you are located in the UK or not and then lock you out if you're not. I would love to have access to this, more so my wife who would love to catch up on Eastenders, but tried last night and the Wii U said NO.

Did a review for it and I was not impressed. Overrated in my opinion. Some nice puzzles are heavily let down by awkward touch screen controls, unresponsive floaty jumping mechanics, bad jerky animation, frequent long loading and short play time due to easiness, that leads to an unlockable mode that is too frustratingly difficult to enjoy. 2-player mode plays well in an Affordable Space Adventures vibe of cooperative play, but the narration is annoying because of the unemotive narrator and poor script. The narration wants you to think that it is making some deep metaphoric tirade on the meaning of life and the futile effort required to stave off death. It rarely hits anything other than a superficial understanding and the whole story comes across as a childish take on existence itself. Was not impressed, and left baffled how it was so highly regarded on other platforms.

Coming of age books, if his vocab is smaller at the moment. Things like 'Catcher in the Rye', Tom Sawyer, Famous Five, Secret Seven. Things aimed at teenagers in the UK seem challenging, but not too daunting with a good dictionary. I would say the Harry Potter books, but after seeing a few of my students struggle with them, it will depend on their experience.

After finishing the Song of Ice and Fire Books (GoT) I started on Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time Anthology (13 books in total). Loved the first one, especially the second half of it, and the first half of the 2nd book, but struggling through the second half now. Looking forward to reading The Walking Dead: Descent which I downloaded the other day.

Very little online play, certain titles will always demand more, but locally nearly every day. The joys of being a Dad I suppose.

It's late again, probably be around this time tomorrow now.

Did you play the recent 3DS Triple Deluxe? It's good, but IMO Epic Yarn and Wii Adventure are by far better games. I played through both of Kirby's Wii games with a second player in tow. In 2-player mode they are brilliant, don't think I would have enjoyed single player as much.

I export games from the UK to an Asian country all the time and have never once got caught with import duties. They either don't care because of the little value, or just don't realise. Try Base.com as well. They knock off the UK tax at the checkout before you pay, saving about 20% on their selling price in addition. http://www.base.com/

There are discounts on the eShop every week, but there's no telling what games will be discounted until the Monday press release before the eShop updates on the Thursday 2:00pm (UK time). The last time RE was reduced in price was at least 5 months back, so if you can wait that long to see what else gets reduced?? Splinter Cell is good, but the online portion of the game is now redundant due to lack of players. Not worth 30 Euros, it was on sale about 5 months too.

Project Cars is slated for later this year for the Wii U.

This week's 3DS eShop releases 3DS eShop 3D Thunder Blade (SEGA, €4.99 / £4.49) 3DS Retail Download Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. (Nintendo, $39.99 / £34.99) – Available from Friday 15th May. 3DS eShop Temporary Discounts Animal Hospital (Bigben Interactive, €14.99 / £11.99 until 28th May, regular price €24.99 / £19.99) I Love My Horse (Bigben Interactive, €14.99 / £11.99 until 28th May, regular price €24.99 / £19.99) I Love My Pets (Bigben Interactive, €17.99 / £14.99 until 28th May, regular price €29.99 / £24.99) My Exotic Farm (Bigben Interactive, €4.10 / £3.70 until 28th May, regular price €6.99 / £6.29) My Farm 3D (Bigben Interactive, €4.70 / £4.10 until until 28th May, regular price €7.99 / £6.99) Resident Evil Revelations (Capcom, €9.89 / £8.24 until 28th May, regular price €29.99 / £24.99) Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D (Capcom, €3.99 / £3.59 until 28th May, regular price €9.99 / £8.99) Super Street Fighter IV 3D (Capcom, €7.99 / £7.19 until 28th May, regular price €19.99 / £17.99) BIT.TRIP SAGA (Rising Star Games, €4.99 / £4.49 until 21st May, regular price €19.99 / £17.99) Hakuoki: Memories of the Shinsengumi (Rising Star Games, €11.99 / £11.99 until 21st May, regular price €29.99 / £29.99) Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns (Rising Star Games, €9.99 / £8.99 until 21st May, regular price €19.99 / £17.99) Hometown Story (Rising Star Games, €14.99 / £14.99 until 21st May, regular price €29.99 / £29.99) Virtue’s Last Reward (Rising Star Games, €9.99 / £7.99 until 21st May, regular price €24.99 / £19.99) 3DS HOME Theme Promotion Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. (Nintendo, free with every eShop purchase of the related game until 11th June)

Full Wii U eShop releases for this Thursday Wii U eShop Ultratron (Curve Digital, €8.49 / £6.50 until 28th May, regular price €9.99 / £7.99) Nihilumbra (Beautifun Games, €6.99 / £5.49 until 28th May, regular price €8.99 / £6.99) Wii U eShop Temporary Discount Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams (Black Forest Games, €7.49 / £5.99 until 21st May, regular price €14.99 / £12.99) Ducktales: Remastered (Capcom, €6.69 / £5.39 until 28th May, regular price €14.99 / £11.99) Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara (Capcom, €5.99 / £4.79 until 28th May, regular price €14.99 / £11.99) Resident Evil Revelations (Capcom, €14.99 / £11.99 until 28th May, regular price €49.99 / £39.99) Guac’ a Mole (Madskull Creations, €2.69 / £2.39 until 11th June, regular price €3.50 / £3.19) Wooden Sen’SeY (Neko Entertainment, €2.99 / £2.39 until 21st May, regular price €9.99 / £8.00) Wii U Virtual Console Mega Man Zero 4 (Capcom, GBA VC, €6.99 / £6.29) Mega Man Battle Network 2 (Capcom, GBA VC, €6.99 / £6.29)

And that wait is almost over

After realising MK8 didn't work online for me, I went and followed Nintendo's advice/support page about creating new addresses and a DMZ and such. None of it made a blind bit of difference to the result - disconnection. After a few emails back and forth I hit a wall that couldn't be overcome. It's just that other non-Nintendo games work fine online (never had a disconnection with COD, Monster Hunter 3&4, Resident Evil Revelations, Need for Speed). BTW, this also affects 3DS games for me, too. MK7 disconnects way too often, every other race nets one, but MH4 OK. Why only the Big N. I feel a lengthy ranty email coming Nintendo's way. Not that it will do anything to resolve the issue, but it'll make me feel a damn sight better.

Well, just like every other online Nintendo game I've played on the Wii U, I can't maintain a stable connection for more than 1 minute before a disconnection notice pops up. Mario Kart 8 is the biggest offender for me. At the countdown timer it always disconnects, never played MK8 online due to this. Other 3rd party online offerings like Assassins Creed 3, COD games offer no such problems, so why is it only Nintendo online offerings aren't compatible with my online connection. It isn't a fast connection, but like I've said already, other 3rd party online offerings have no problems, but it's the fastest I can get in an old apartment block. I feel totally distraught that I'll have to cancel my preorder for Nintendo's most innovative game in years because something with their online set-up doesn't like Taiwan??? FFS.

I've been up for hours, but it is nearing 11:00am here. Get your splat on!

Downloaded the update, but can't download the dlc pack 2, no option anywhere? edit: after turning mk8 on & off 4 times I decided to turn off the Wii U, this then allowed the DLC to download. Weird you can't manually choose to start it???

Watched this last night,